Chapter 554
"No? Can he go?"
"I don't think it's a question you need to agonize over that much..."
She had just asked without much thought, but she never expected him to ponder so deeply about it.
Yonaire felt uneasy and tried to lift her devastated friend up.
"Yi-Han. Get up. I know you're in pain, but you can't keep doing this."
"...Spirits are all ungrateful bastards."
The basilisk hissed as if agreeing.
"Yeah. That might be true. Anyway, get up. There's this squirrel spirit here too."
The squirrel spirit made of ice and frost pinched Yi-Han's cheek as if to say it was there for him.
At that sight, Yi-Han slightly regained his energy.
At least there was one spirit left.
Tap tap-
"You want to make a contract?"
Nod nod-
"There must be many other good mages."
"No. Yi-Han."
"That's right. Wardanaz. Don't say that."
Just in case the squirrel might run away, the two friends hurriedly intervened.
If the opposing spirit wanted to make a contract, whether out of sympathy or confusion, they should just make the contract, so why was he saying unnecessary things?
Fortunately, the squirrel spirit didn't mind. It wagged its tail in front of Yi-Han, showing affection.
"See, see. Yi-Han. Spirits don't forget the kindness of being saved, right?"
"...That might be true."
Ilendil, who had finished her work behind them, walked over to where the juniors were.
And she was delighted to see the squirrel spirit and Yi-Han being close.
For spirits to show such affection. It was something impossible with ordinary sincerity and love.
"Here."
Ilendil took out a handful of ice pine nuts that the squirrel spirit liked from her pocket and held them out.
Then the squirrel spirit instantly ran to Ilendil, rubbed its head against her palm, and began to munch on the pine nuts.
Yi-Han, who had just taken out his staff to make a contract, stared at the senior.
"It's eating well. Right?"
"Why are you still here, senior? Don't you have a lot of work to do?"
"Uh... Are you angry...? Why?"
***
When they emerged from the forest, the surroundings were already pitch-black. Only the moon and stars twinkled, illuminating the students' path ahead…
"???"
Yi-Han, who was stroking the squirrel spirit he had contracted with, noticed the flickering torches in the distance and was puzzled.
In principle, students were not allowed to wander around at night like this.
Unless they were on duty or had a task assigned by a professor, they had to stay in the dormitory.
Of course, some students wandered around regardless of the night, but they didn't wander around with torches like that.
It was equivalent to signaling the Death Knights patrolling inside Einroguard to catch them.
'What's going on?'
"Wardanaz!! You bastard. I thought you were dead!"
"???"
Anglago, whose appearance was a mess as if he had been beaten up and down, hugged Yi-Han tightly.
Yi-Han grabbed Anglago's face with one hand, pushed him away, and asked.
"What happened? Was it the principal by any chance?"
"The contaminants sent by the principal popped out of the forest and are attacking the dormitory!"
"Ah."
"Oh."
"Hmm."
Yi-Han, Yonaire, and Priestess Siana hesitated.
They knew that this incident had nothing to do with the skull principal.
"I can't possibly sleep well. Everyone is out tracking those things right now."
"I see."
Only then did Yi-Han understand why all his friends were out.
Not many students could calmly sleep while contaminants were constantly trying to enter the dormitory.
Moreover, if it was something done by the skull principal, they definitely shouldn't fall asleep. They had to find the cause and resolve it as soon as possible.
"Wardanaz. It's a relief you're here. Quickly lead the remaining kids and find the source!"
"But Wardanaz isn't from the White Tiger Tower...?"
Priestess Siana tilted her head, but Anglago ignored her.
What was so important about that now?!
Yi-Han yawned loudly and said.
"Are Moradi and Salko searching the forest now?"
"Yeah!"
"I see. Tell them to search moderately and come back. We've already caught the culprit. We need to go and get some sleep now."
At Yi-Han's words, Yonaire and Priestess Siana simultaneously nodded their heads.
They were exhausted from wandering around all day. They felt like they would collapse if they closed their eyes right now.
"Huh? Wardanaz! Wardanaz! Come back! Are you going to abandon your duty as a knight?!"
'Crazy bastard...'
He was too tired to even bother refuting.
Yi-Han and his friends waved their hands once and slowly walked towards the dormitory.
***
Friday.
Yi-Han, who had some free time for a change, entered his secret base and became immersed in concentration.
The lounge or library weren't bad places to study either, but it was really hard to concentrate because of other friends.
-Wardanaz. Do you know about the miraculous event that occurred in the southern part of the empire this time? And do you know which order caused that miraculous event? I'll give you a hint, it's neither the Aphar Order nor the Agltakwa Order.-
-Wardanaz. Why do you think people should learn magic? It's not that I absolutely don't want to study, but I suddenly had a question…-
Yi-Han was the type to shout at himself that he could do it even in a poor environment, but after all, he couldn't ignore the efficiency of a quiet space.
Filling in the contents of the two books, and , writing the design request for the Pocket Knife Fortress proposed by Professor Alpen, and organizing the magic learned this week…
'Hmm.'
Yi-Han pondered whether he should also organize the lightning spear he had used when fighting the contaminants yesterday.
He had clearly achieved the goal of fixing the form of the lightning element, but the problem was…
'I don't remember how I did it.'
He couldn't go to Professor Bagrak and say, 'Professor, I cast a lightning spear, but I don't remember how I did it.'
If he did that, Professor Bagrak would say, 'As expected, your abilities grow when your life is in danger. I will help you,' and try to kill Yi-Han.
It was relatively safer for Yi-Han to recall it himself and complete it again before Professor Bagrak killed him.
In fact, he had even thought about hiding it from Professor Bagrak altogether, but…
'Professor Bagrak's information acquisition is strangely fast.'
Unlike Professor Garcia, who had amicable relationships with other professors, it was strange that Professor Bagrak often knew when Yi-Han learned magic from other departments.
As if they shared information in the professors' lounge or something.
-Junior. Junior.-
"!"
When letters were engraved on the notebook used to communicate with Direth, Yi-Han picked up a quill and approached the notebook.
-What is it?-
-I heard a strange rumor, so I wanted to ask you something. Is that okay?-
-Yes. What are you curious about?-
-I heard that the spirits of the forest love you too much. Is that true? They said the spirits of the forest love you so much that they all returned to their own realm at your request.-
-??????-
For a moment, Yi-Han almost dropped the quill.
-What on earth are you talking about?-
-I happened to hear your name, and they said you were close to spirits. It seemed a bit strange.-
Basically, it was not easy for dark mages to become close to spirits.
As they associated with the undead, the unique smell permeated their souls.
-It's hard for dark mages to be close to spirits, right?-
-Ah. That's right. Come to think of it, that's true. Could it be that spirits avoid me because of that?-
-No. Come to think of it, for you, junior, it's more likely because of your mana capacity. Spirits are sensitive.-
"..."
Yi-Han frowned at the senior's words.
-Couldn't it be because of dark magic…-
-That's unlikely, right?-
Feeling that asking more would only make him sad, Yi-Han changed the subject.
-It's probably because of senior Ilendil. This time, contaminants appeared in the forest, and I helped her with that.-
Yi-Han briefly explained what had happened this time.
After hearing the explanation, Direth seriously pondered where to start asking again.
She tried to create a dark spirit artificially? That wouldn't be easy. Among spirits, dark spirits are really unstable and tricky.
-It was really like that. I don't know why she didn't ask for help from the outstanding seniors in the dark magic department.-
Direth was silent for a moment.
Yi-Han sensed that his flattery had been successfully conveyed and felt pleased.
-It's not to that extent.-
-That's what I think.-
-Well... Anyway, it's natural not to ask for help if it's Ilendil's matter. They don't get along well.-
"?"
Yi-Han paused, not understanding.
Ilendil didn't seem particularly evil or violent.
-What happened?-
-Ilendil is a dryad mixed-blood, right? Likes and cherishes the forest. Some kids from our department went into the forest to collect reagents and got attacked by Ilendil…-
-Ah.-
Yi-Han thought he knew what had happened.
Although Ilendil seemed relaxed and kind, it was true that curses had popped out of her mouth the moment the forest was hurt.
-It's unfortunate. But I'm proud that you heard about yesterday's incident, senior.-
Apart from the grudge between Ilendil and the dark magic department seniors, Yi-Han was grateful in his heart.
It was clear that Ilendil had spoken well of him to other seniors as intended.
Otherwise, there was no way Direth would have heard the rumor.
-Proud?-
-Yes. Isn't it a good thing? A good evaluation among seniors…-
-You may or may not know this, but Ilendil has a bit of an eccentric image.-
-Is that so? To what extent?-
-A bit more than the dark magic department?-
-...-
Yi-Han's face turned pale.
-So Ilendil praising you isn't necessarily a good thing for you, junior... The friend who told me about it also…-
Direth played with the quill, looking worried.
In fact, the friend who had passed the rumor to Direth also found Yi-Han very strange.
-Direth. The Yi-Han of the Wardanaz family, isn't he the junior you mentioned? The admirable one?-
-That's right. Why?-
-You know Ilendil? She was praising that Wardanaz, saying she met a junior of the same kind as herself... He's not a strange junior, is he?-
"..."
After hearing the explanation, Yi-Han banged his head on the desk and was devastated.
'Damn it. I thought she was a respectable person within the alchemy department.'
-Senior Direth. Please help me. That I'm not a strange person…-
-Well, I'm sorry.-
Direth apologized sincerely.
-I'll try my best to talk about it, but it might not be that effective since I'm also from the dark magic department…-
"..."
Yi-Han couldn't say anything about the sad reason.
-No. Senior. Thank you for even thinking about it.-
-Yeah. Anyway, be careful. Especially when entering the forest. Ilendil isn't a bad kid, but she can get a bit violent if her work gets involved.-
'From now on, I should always cast invisibility magic before entering the forest.'
Yi-Han firmly resolved not to get involved with Ilendil.
Come to think of it, he had instinctively been reluctant to show a likable appearance to the spirits, and he must have sensed this problem.
After ending the conversation and feeling dejected for a while, this time the mirror vibrated.
Yi-Han approached the mirror.
-I'd like to buy some more information about the 1st-year Wardanaz family.-
"..."
The mirror in front of Yi-Han, who was contemplating whether to pretend he hadn't seen it, kept vibrating.
-The information you gave last time was useful. I'll express my gratitude.-
-But I heard a new rumor this time.-
-They say he's an eccentric who's close with Ilendil from the alchemy department. Is that true?-
-Absolutely not.-
Yi-Han unknowingly wrote down the answer.
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